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Hoops Heavens Basketball HustleAuthor: chrispikebball
Hoops Heavens Basketball Hustle is a weekly podcast with NBL writer Chris Pike and former Sydney Kings and Illawarra Hawks forward Cody Ellis brought to you by Hoops Heaven and TABtouch Language: en Genres: Basketball, News, Sports, Sports News Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Hoops Heaven's Basketball Hustle – #NBL25 Episode 25
Episode 25
Friday, 4 April, 2025
One shock, one brilliant Brisbane Bullets signing, Bryce Cotton looks set for Japan as Perth Wildcats scramble to replace great, March Madness Final Four, NBL team by team free agency breakdown, Warwick Senators NBL1 West preview from Cody Ellis. Cody never thought coaching might be for him but he's now starting to change his view and it could be something he fully throws himself into at some point, and he's already helped the Warwick Senators U14s team to the National Championships. The Brisbane Bullets coaching appointment was always likely to surprise and the announcement of Stu Lash certainly provided that, and Cody was somewhat shocked at the news, but he feels their appointment of Professor Stephen Reid as High-Performance Director is brilliant. There was no surprise that Bryce Cotton decided to leave the Perth Wildcats but it's still significant news and Cody believes where he will end up next will be signing a lucrative deal in Japan, and there's no chance of him landing at a rival NBL club. The changes under new ownership look to be ecxiting at the NZ Breakers and it all starts by trying to recreate what was once a winning culture where they had a great connection with New Zealand, and it no longer appears management will be hindering the team's chances of having success. With NBL free agency now underway, we take a look at the outlook of all 10 clubs including a big off-season for the Adelaide 36ers with a lot of work to do under coach Mike Wells. The Brisbane Bullets have a lot of pieces locked in but top-level import help for Casey Prather is the focus while the Cairns Taipans have done well to re-sign key talent including Sam Waardenburg but their import signings are also key. The Illawarra Hawks have most of their championship team locked away and Cody does expect coach Justin Tatum to return while the team they beat, Melbourne United, look set to be undergoing some significant change to their personnel. The NZ Breakers are changing a lot but the majority of their local personnel are locked while Flynn Cameron looks a key target and they'll be replacing all three imports likely including Tacko Fall. The Perth Wildcats have big decisions to make on how to replace Bryce Cotton and Keanu Pinder with Kendric Davis and Josh Bannan the leading candidates while re-signing Matt Hurt has to be the focus for the South East Melbourne Phoenix. The Sydney Kings need to be going with three imports and they'll all be new faces in NBL26 while there could also be significant change afoot at the Tasmania JackJumpers but brining back Milton Doyle should be a priority. March Madness has got to the Final Four stage and there are all the No. 1 seeds that have made it with Cody predicting an upset with Houston beating Duke while he's sticking with Florida to join them in the NCAA Championship Game with a possible 70,000 crowd at the Alamodome. We then wrap things up by talking about the NBL1 West season ahead for Cody Ellis at the Warwick Senators with Todd Withers back alongside him along with new signings Elijah Pepper and Mitch Clarke. Cody also casts his eye across the rest of the competition including Terrico White, Emmett Naar and Isaac White among the arrivals while he is blown away with the talent on the women's side that could have it the strongest conference in Australia. All made possible thanks to the support of Hoops Heaven (www.hoopsheaven.com.au) and TABtouch (www.tabtouch.com.au).
